Robert Rubin: Gone Fishin’

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Robert Rubin, former Goldman Sachs wunderkind and world-saving Treasury secretary under Bill Clinton, has stepped down from his non-managerial executive post at Citigroup after an extremely profitable run — for him, if not for the now-crippled banking giant. Since joining Citigroup in 1999, filling the role of what the Times describes as “resident sage,” he’s been paid more than $100 million. Shareholder losses over that same period exceed $100 billion. But what blame, if any, does he deserve? After all, at his insistence, he had no direct responsibilities whatsoever, and his succession of bosses at Citigroup were apparently all too happy to let him use the company jet for frequent fly-fishing excursions to Montana. A source told the Journal that the 70-year-old Rubin was leaving because he is “tired of it” and wants to “to focus on his non-profit work and other outside interests.” And frankly, it’s not like he needs themoney.